2022 - McLaren Formula 1 Team

[SmallSoldier]

I’m not saying he influenced the suspension, I’m saying he influenced the car, and The team have confirmed his feedback was used to develop the 22 cars qualities, with Lando largely in agreement.

Of course, feedback is received by the team and taken into consideration and it may trigger ideas or areas of focus for the team… But the team will build the fastest car they can, regardless of how it drives, now is up to both Daniel and Lando to extract the most of it on track.

[MrGapes]

I’m not saying he influenced the suspension, I’m saying he influenced the car, and The team have confirmed his feedback was used to develop the 22 cars qualities, with Lando largely in agreement.

Of course, feedback is received by the team and taken into consideration and it may trigger ideas or areas of focus for the team… But the team will build the fastest car they can, regardless of how it drives, now is up to both Daniel and Lando to extract the most of it on track.

I agree with this. I think people overly state how much drivers actually have control of a cars characteristics (like all this red bull build a car for Verstappen nonsense). Ultimately a car designer will design a car that best compliments aerodynamic efficiency, development route and most importantly balance. The designers will design the car, these drivers are of the highest percentile its there job to adapt to what there given. I'm not saying drivers don't have input, but something such as a strong front end is a fundamental characteristic of the car.

[djos]

I’m not saying cars are developed around drivers either, that stopped a long time ago. They do still influence the direction and feel of the cars tho, that’s just a fact.

If it wasn’t the case, no one would bother investing in “Driver in the Loop” simulators.

[geogate]

sheesh, so much rumbling on about the livery. Personally, i never liked the Gulf livery, which supposedly inspired this.
Anyway, more importantly, a decent first day. I think given the radical front end change a few will be having a good nights sleep tonight. Havnt seen anything to be too concerned about either from competition or from the MCL36, and thats about the best you can derive from a first day

[mwillems]

I’m not saying he influenced the suspension, I’m saying he influenced the car, and The team have confirmed his feedback was used to develop the 22 cars qualities, with Lando largely in agreement.

Btw, the teams were not allowed to work on the 22 car until 21. So it hasn’t been 2 years in the making.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-te ... 83363/amp/

Wasn't it just the aero the could not work on, or am I mistaken?

[djos]

From what I’ve heard over the years, the aero and suspension is developed together as they have such a big impact on each other.

Plus the FIA kept changing the spec so there wouldn’t be much to gain by working on one aspect of the car in isolation.

[Motörhead]

I’m not saying he influenced the suspension, I’m saying he influenced the car, and The team have confirmed his feedback was used to develop the 22 cars qualities, with Lando largely in agreement.

Btw, the teams were not allowed to work on the 22 car until 21. So it hasn’t been 2 years in the making.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-te ... 83363/amp/

Wasn't it just the aero the could work on, or am I mistaken?

There was a period of several months before Covid where teams were working on the 2021 car, which is now the 2022 car. Then the decision was taken to delay the new regulations for a year, and that's when testing and development was stopped for every team, until the new year of 2021.
You will find that basic development paths were investigated and chosen long before the delay and long before Daniel joined Mclaren.

[DragonSGC]

From what I’ve heard over the years, the aero and suspension is developed together as they have such a big impact on each other.

Plus the FIA kept changing the spec so there wouldn’t be much to gain by working on one aspect of the car in isolation.

James key at the launch mentioned that they have been working on the suspension for 2 years and admitted it was weird as aero and suspension go hand in hand usually.

[mwillems]

I’m not saying he influenced the suspension, I’m saying he influenced the car, and The team have confirmed his feedback was used to develop the 22 cars qualities, with Lando largely in agreement.

Btw, the teams were not allowed to work on the 22 car until 21. So it hasn’t been 2 years in the making.

https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-te ... 83363/amp/

Wasn't it just the aero the could work on, or am I mistaken?

There was a period of several months before Covid where teams were working on the 2021 car, which is now the 2022 car. Then the decision was taken to delay the new regulations for a year, and that's when testing and development was stopped for every team, until the new year of 2021.
You will find that basic development paths were investigated and chosen long before the delay and long before Daniel joined Mclaren.

I'm not arguing about Daniel, I just remember reading something about aero development being the part that was suspended until Jan 1 21. Im probably wrong but I think the suspension could still be investigated.

I have no idea if the two drivers feedback over 21 had any impact on the kinematics, although I'd say it was hard to rule out that tweaks weren't or were made. It's possible. Or perhaps tweaks were made to ensure setup parameters were available.

But then you could imagine that first and foremost is the ride and everything and drivers input will come after the first road tested design.

[billamend]

If it wasn’t the case, no one would bother investing in “Driver in the Loop” simulators.

There is no way they decided to make such a big change to please Ricciardo. They wanted a fast car for these regulations and made decisions for that. And as some have pointed out, they have been working on it for >2y.

Given the bouncing problems some teams are having, I suspect that that was a much bigger factor than any feedback from Ricciardo.

[FittingMechanics]

If it wasn’t the case, no one would bother investing in “Driver in the Loop” simulators.

There is no way they decided to make such a big change to please Ricciardo. They wanted a fast car for these regulations and made decisions for that. And as some have pointed out, they have been working on it for >2y.

Given the bouncing problems some teams are having, I suspect that that was a much bigger factor than any feedback from Ricciardo.

I'm sure that the change to pullrod/pushrod was not done due to Ricciardo. Red Bull didn't use it so why would he ask for it?

But the drivers do guide the development of the car. They are ultimate factor in focusing on different areas of the cars. They can feel if the car is understeery, oversteery, peaky or unstable on braking. They feedback drives the development. Obviously a lot of data is used as well but the drivers are definitely a big factor as well.

[mwillems]

I'm interested to know about Mclarens porpoising. Reports suggest the handling is great but when talking about porpoising Mclaren is not mentioned, seemingly due to not being at either end of the spectrum.

I wish we had lots of onboard. Roll on Bahrain.

[FittingMechanics]

"Half race distance now for Ricciardo, as he completed his 33rd lap of the morning."

21.9 on C2 so far - I am guessing in a race sim.

[djos]

Drivers don’t ask for push rods over pull rods or Vice versa, they ask for certain qualities in the way a car handles under certain conditions and the engineers make tweaks to assist if they believe that will make the car faster.

In Daniels case he won races for RedBull and was able to clearly articulate to the team that certain handling qualities make the car faster and easier to drive in the limit. Mclaren would be idiots to ignore this kind of feedback.

Thankfully they aren’t idiots and have publicly acknowledge that Daniel‘s feedback was used to develop the 2022 car. Anyone disputing this is contradicting statements by both Daniel and Mclaren.

[Motörhead]

Drivers don’t ask for push rods over pull rods or Vice versa, they ask for certain qualities in the way a car handles under certain conditions and the engineers make tweaks to assist if they believe that will make the car faster.

In Daniels case he won races for RedBull and was able to clearly articulate to the team that certain handling qualities make the car faster and easier to drive in the limit. Mclaren would be idiots to ignore this kind of feedback.

Thankfully they aren’t idiots and have publicly acknowledge that Daniel‘s feedback was used to develop the 2022 car. Anyone disputing this is contradicting statements by both Daniel and Mclaren.

For sure!
And this would have been when they first got it into the simulator, when they had chosen the Geometry and direction of the car, which they had been testing for quite some time.